Tolling existing interstates represents a veiled supply-chain tax that makes businesses less competitive and drives up the cost of living wherever they are located, the Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates (ATFI) said in a recent letter to the editor published in the Wall Street Journal.
04-18-2019 Efforts to toll Interstate 81 in Virginia appear to have been put on hold this legislative session after the Virginia Senate Finance Committee adopted a substitute measure that establishes the Interstate 81 Corridor Improvement Fund but does not identify any funding options for improving Interstate 81.
02-01-2019 Va. State Senators Mark Obenshain and Charles Carrico introduced SB 1716 Jan. 16 to authorize the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) to impose tolls on Interstate 81 and deposit the revenues into an Interstate 81 Corridor Improvement Fund.
01-17-2019 Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb on Nov. 30 abandoned plans to add tolls to Indiana’s existing interstates, saying that the state no longer needed tolling revenues because it had committed enough money for transportation infrastructure enhancements.
12-03-2018 The Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates (ATFI) urged Virginia Secretary of Transportation Shannon Valentine to refrain from charging tolls on commercial trucks to pay for $2 billion of improvements along Interstate-81.
10-23-2018 The Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates (ATFI) criticized the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) over the issuance of its recent notice soliciting participation in the Interstate System Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Pilot Program (ISRRPP). The ISRRPP is one of the few ways the federal government allows for tolls to be placed on existing interstates. The notice invites state Departments of Transportation to submit applications for three potential slots on a rolling basis until further notice, based on a directive from Congress.
10-06-2018 The Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates (ATFI) urged Connecticut residents to be wary of the state’s plan to study tolling of state highways citing a long history of tolling studies that have misled policymakers into thinking tolls are practical infrastructure funding solution, when in fact, they are not.
08-07-2018 The Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates, of which NATSO is a founding member, on June 15 urged Virginia’s Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) to exclude recommendations for tolls from its upcoming I-81 Corridor Improvement Plan, which is due to the Virginia General Assembly later this year.
06-18-2018 The Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates, of which NATSO is a founding member, sharply criticized the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) on June 5 for moving forward with truck-only tolling in the coming days, arguing that it is bad public policy that will reroute prosperity around the state.
06-06-2018 The Trump Administration on Feb. 12 officially rolled out its proposal for a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan, which contains several policy provisions that would crush the truckstop and travel plaza industry.
02-12-2018 The White House said that the unveiling of President Donald Trump’s infrastructure proposal would again be delayed, citing the recent government shutdown. The announcement came just one day after the President said that his plan would arrive “in a week or two, right after the State of the Union Address.”
02-01-2018